AUSTIN -- The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee already has one big idea ahead of next month's interim hearing on what the state can do to address the damage done by Hurricane Harvey with an eye toward mitigating the destructive power of future storms.

San Antonio Republican Lyle Larson said he hoped the state would attempt a long-term strategy to find ways to store those floodwaters underground in aquifers ahead of future droughts.

Harvey dropped enough water to supply Texas for eight years, Larson said. It's time, he said, to "stop flooding and start storing this water." Larson's legislative panel is planning to meet Oct. 4 in Houston for its first hearing in response to Speaker Joe Straus' interim charges on Harvey.

The committee is looking at a couple of potential venues for the hearing but nothing has been finalized yet, Larson said.

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As part of his charge to Larson's panel, Straus directed the committee to examine "the role of regional entities in developing projects to control flooding, both through new infrastructure and enhancing existing infrastructure (and) mitigation efforts that would reduce the impact of future flood events."

Harvey is as close to a unique catastrophe as has been seen in Texas. But flooding has been a constant topic for policymakers in Austin and elsewhere in the state in recent years.

The full story can be found in the Quorum Report. Copyright 2017, Harvey Kronberg,http://quorumreport.com/index.cfm, All rights are reserved. This story is presented as part of the Houston Chronicle's collaboration with Quorum Report. For inside information on Texas politics and government and to sign up for real-time updates, go here.